Air travel becomes more popular with young migrant workers

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Traveling by air used to be a luxury for the Chinese. But it has become the new norm, especially during the Spring Festival season.

Over the past few years, air travel has seen the highest jump in the number of passengers among all travel mediums. The faster speed of air travel has made many long-distance young migrant workers opt for this more convenient option.

China predicts 73 million trips will be made by air during the 2019 spring migration season, with about 532,000 flights booked. That means, 15,600 flights will fly over the sky per day for 40 days non-stop. More than 2.3 million seats have offered.

The aviation authority plans to schedule 532,000 flights during the travel rush, with air trips expected at 73 million, up 12 percent from 2018. /CGTN Photo

Millennials represent the largest group of spring festival air travelers. About 68 percent of the travelers are people born in the 80's and 90's. They are also core to the work place, often unable to leave their jobs until the day before the holiday.

But just 57 percent of passengers take flights back home during the travel rush. About 43 percent of the Chinese have chosen to travel elsewhere in the country or go abroad, according to fliggy.com, a Chinese travel ticket booking platform.

Many passengers choose not to fly home during the holiday. /CGTN Photo

The top domestic departure cities are Kunming, Haikou, and Chengdu, and the top international departure cities are Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou. Most people spending the biggest holiday abroad will choose destinations within three-hour flight journeys.

Today, China has 235 commercial airports, and this number is growing to fulfill a more diverse demand. An advanced infrastructure has left the country with more options to celebrate its New Year.

(Gao Zhiming, Lin Chenlong, and Shen Langlang also contributed to the story.)